﻿Drought Relief Bags Were Damaged

She said in a statement on Tuesday, clarifying how some bags of maize meal, meant for the government’s drought-relief distribution programme around her constituency, were spoiled.

Residents of Grootfontein last week accused her of negligence after four bags of maize meal, which were stored at the Grootfontein municipality storeroom at Omulunga, got rotten and were subsequently thrown away.

Amagulu said that a thorough investigation was launched last week and it came to light that the bags found dumped in a rubbish bin were in fact damaged.

She said the bags were damaged when they were being offloaded from a truck in August 2014.

Amagulu said records indicate that the four bags were clearly marked as damaged and a drought relief distribution team declared them unfit for human consumption.

The councillor said after cleaners dumped the bags in a nearby rubbish drum, some residents took pictures of the bags with their mobile phones.

“That’s how the issue came about. Otherwise, there is nothing to complain about because my office this year did not receive drought relief maize from the Office of the Prime Minister in Windhoek,” Amagulu stated.

She said August 2014 was the last time a consignment of drought relief food was delivered to her office.

Amagulu noted that her office will not let people waste taxpayers’ money by allowing food to rot in a storeroom, neither will she allow needy Namibians to be fed on food that is unfit for human consumption.

She claims that community members who registered for drought relief in Grootfontein are happy with the manner her office distributes the food.